NBA Skills Challenge 2015: Winner, Results and Twitter Reaction
Few people believed in Patrick Beverley coming into the NBA 2015 Skills Challenge. At different points throughout the competition Saturday night, you could see why. Two surprising comeback victories in the semifinals and finals, though, and the Rockets guard is your Skills Challenge champion.
Beverley defeated Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Knight in the final round Saturday night, draining a three-pointer on his first attempt to complete a torrid comeback. Left behind after Beverley struggled during the passing portion of the event—something he did all night—Knight appeared to have a breezy victory locked up.
A couple of missed threes later, though, and Beverley was able to pull off one of the unlikeliest wins in Skills Challenge history.
| Patrick Beverley vs. Isaiah Thomas | Patrick Beverley |
| Jeff Teague vs. Elfrid Payton | Jeff Teague |
| Brandon Knight vs. Trey Burke | Brandon Knight |
| Dennis Schroder vs. Kyle Lowry | Kyle Lowry |
| Patrick Beverley vs. Jeff Teague | Patrick Beverley |
| Brandon Knight vs. Kyle Lowry | Brandon Knight |
| Patrick Beverley vs. Brandon Knight | Patrick Beverley |
"I remember watching these competitions, watching these games in my grandmother's apartment when I was a kid," Beverley told reporters before the competition. "Now, I'm a part of it. It's definitely an honor and a dream come true. I definitely think I've inspired kids from my neighborhood (in Chicago) to see if I can do it, they can do it, also."
"Patrick Beverley literally stole the Skills comp. This is amazing.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) February 15, 2015"
Helping Beverley to the win were some of the new rules implemented this year. Rather than competing individually and taking the top overall times to subsequent rounds, players were instead paired against one another in a bracket-style tournament. The loser of each head-to-head matchup was eliminated regardless of whether his time was better than another advancing player.
Also changing this year was the importance of the three-point shot. In previous years, players finalized their run with a dunk or layup. This year, perhaps in a response to the proliferation of three-point gunners at the point guard spot, players ended their runs with shots from distance.
The Skills Challenge as a whole featured three replacement players. John Wall, Jimmy Butler and Michael Carter-Williams were all initially selected for the competition but bowed out for varying reasons. They were replaced by Elfrid Payton, Dennis Schroder and Beverley.
Each of the replacements were given difficult first-round matchups. Payton and Schroder were placed against Jeff Teague and Kyle Lowry, respectively. Lowry and Teague, of course, were the only two actual All-Stars participating in the event. Beverley went up against Isaiah Thomas, whose quickness and three-point acumen made him a dark-horse favorite.
However, it was Thomas' inability to knock down shots that proved his undoing. Beverley and Thomas turned in one of the closest races of the first round, both arriving at the final three-point stripe at essentially the same time. Issues for both came beyond the arc, where neither was able to knock down a shot within the allotted balls.
Given the opportunity to take a rebound and put it back in, Beverley was able to escape with a victory.
The remainder of the first round wound up seeing three blowouts. Teague blitzed right through Payton, knocking down his three-point shot before the Orlando Magic rookie even got to half court.
Trey Burke, who was the defending co-champion of the event, was then run out of the building by Knight. Knight and Teague, who each lost to Damian Lillard in the 2013 contest, were the only other players who previously participated. The Bucks guard was able to atone for himself a little by getting past the guy who tied Lillard last season. Eric Buenning was optimistic regarding Burke not being a factor in the contest:
Closing out the first round was Lowry, who zoomed past Schroder and into the second round. The first-time All-Star knocked down his first three-point attempt, which gave Schroder no time to mount a comeback after missing on a chest pass.
Comebacks, however, were on the menu for the remainder of the event. Beverley's second-round matchup against Teague perhaps should have foretold what would happen in the final. Zooming ahead early, Teague was in the midst of showboating his victory when Beverley came from behind with a one-shot dagger from three-point range to advance.
Knight's own clutch three-point shooting gave him a win over Lowry in their semifinals matchup, but that was where his luck ran out. Losing in the final will undoubtedly be a disappointing blow for Knight, who many thought should have been an All-Star.
As for Beverley, the win may foreshadow more great things to come. Every other Skills Challenge winner—other than Burke—was either already an All-Star or later became one.
Seeing Beverley, a solid role player whom the Rockets would probably prefer in a more tertiary role, as an All-Star may be difficult in the moment.
Then again, seeing him as a Skills Challenge winner was probably difficult, too, before Saturday night.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
